The present invention relates to bearings, and more particularly to bearing assemblies having a sensor for sensing displacement of a rotating shaft.
Sensor bearing assemblies are known and typically include inner and outer rings, a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the rings and at least one sensor. The inner ring is mounted on a rotatable shaft and the sensor detects rotation of the shaft or the inner ring. In certain applications, the axial ends of the shaft are required to be covered or enclosed, such that a cover is provided to enclose the shaft end and the bearing assembly.
In certain such devices, access to the sensor requires removal of the cover, which may be inconvenient and time-consuming. In other devices, the sensors are mounted to the end wall of the cover and must be carefully axially aligned with a radial surface of encoder. The sensors of such devices are difficult to install to ensure accurate sensing of shaft displacement and are prone to being broken-off of the cover, which may lead to costly down-time of the machine of which the shaft is a part.